Natasha Lomas
Senior Reporter
The Latest from Natasha Lomas
Nym gets $6M for its anonymous overlay mixnet to sell privacy as a service
Switzerland-based privacy startup Nym Technologies has raised $6 million, which is being loosely pegged as a Series A round. Earlier raises included a $2.5 million seed round in 2019. The founders als
Ireland must ‘swiftly’ investigate legality of Facebook-WhatsApp data sharing, says EDPB
Facebook’s lead regulator in the European Union must “swiftly” investigate the legality of data sharing related to a controversial WhatsApp policy update, following an order by the E
Backed by $5M led by General Catalyst, Evvy launches a vaginal microbiome test to support women’s health research
Another U.S. femtech startup has joined the race to build up data sets to support research into and understanding of a range of health issues that can affect women. Evvy has today launched an at-home
Anyone is building a marketplace for advice, one 5-minute call at a time
Anyone, an audio app that’s building a “marketplace for advice” one five-minute phone call at a time, is launching new versions of its iOS and Android apps today* and beginning large
Cadoo gets $1.5M to gamify fitness with betting challenges
Cadoo, a US-startup that’s gamifying fitness by turning it into a betting opportunity, using the prospect of winning (or losing) cold hard cash to motivate people to get off the couch, has colle
Google fined $592M in France for breaching antitrust order to negotiate copyright fees for news snippets
France has hit Google with a fine of half a billion euros after finding major breaches in how it negotiated with publishers to remunerate them for reuse of their content — as is required under a
Controversial WhatsApp policy change hit with consumer law complaint in Europe
Facebook has been accused of multiple breaches of European Union consumer protection law as a result of its attempts to force WhatsApp users to accept controversial changes to the messaging platforms&
Swiss Post acquires e2e encrypted cloud services provider, Tresorit
Swiss Post, the state-owned mail delivery firm which became a private limited company in 2013, diversifying into logistics, finance, transport and more (including dabbling in drone delivery) while ret
Raylo nabs $11.5M to get more mobile users to lease and reuse
UK-based smartphone subscription startup Raylo has tucked $11.5 million in Series A funding into its top pocket, led by Octopus Ventures. The equity round follows a debt raise last year — and br
Localyze raises $12M for a SaaS that supports cross-border hiring and relocation
Y-Combinator-backed Localyze has nabbed $12 million in Series A funding led by Blossom Capital for a SaaS that supports staff relocations and hiring across borders. Previous investor Frontline Venture
YouTube’s recommender AI still a horror show, finds major crowdsourced study
For years YouTube’s video-recommending algorithm has stood accused of fuelling a grab bag of societal ills by feeding users an AI-amplified diet of hate speech, political extremism and/or conspi
Italy’s DPA fines Glovo-owned Foodinho $3M, orders changes to algorithmic management of riders
Algorithmic management of gig workers has landed Glovo-owned, on-demand delivery firm Foodinho in trouble in Italy where the country’s data protection authority issued a €2.6 million penalty (
TravelPerk buys UK-based Click Travel in latest pandemic purchase
Business trip booking platform TravelPerk has bagged another rival — picking up UK-based Click Travel. Terms of the deal are not being disclosed but we’re told it’s the third —
Dutch court will hear another Facebook privacy lawsuit
Privacy litigation that’s being brought against Facebook by two not-for-profits in the Netherlands can go ahead, an Amsterdam court has ruled. The case will be heard in October. Since 2019, the
The EU’s COVID-19 ‘digital certificates’ are up and running
A regulation underpinning a digital certification system for individuals in the European Union to verify their COVID-19 status via a common credential has gone into application today — on schedu
German government bodies urged to remove their Facebook Pages before next year
Germany’s federal information commissioner has run out of patience with Facebook. Last month, Ulrich Kelber wrote to government agencies “strongly recommend[ing]” they to close down
UK tells messaging apps not to use e2e encryption for kids’ accounts
For a glimpse of the security and privacy dystopia the UK government has in store for its highly regulated ‘British Internet’, look no further than guidance put out by the Department of Di
Google tightens UK policy on financial ads after watchdog pressure over scams
The U.K.’s more expansive, post-Brexit role in digital regulation continues to be felt today via a policy change by Google, which has announced that it will, in the near future, only run ads for
UK gets data flows deal from EU — for now
The U.K.’s digital businesses can breathe a sigh of relief today as the European Commission has officially signed off on data adequacy for the (now) third country, post-Brexit. It’s a big
Thursday snags $3.5M for a dating app that’s live once a week
Thursday, a dating app that wants to solve problems created by, well, too much time spent using dating apps, had raised a £2.5 million (~$3.5M) seed investment — a few months after launching (i